Nevermore
by KiaraP123
Summary: This is a book by James Patterson called 'Nevermore' I have not changed it at all and it is copied straight out of the book. It is not a full story but it's a teaser from the end of 'Angel Deluxe Limited Edition.' Enjoy! Oh yeah, and there's a big shocker
1. Chapter 1

**Important! Read this! This is in no way whatsoever my story! This is the real 'Nevermore' teaser written by James Patterson. I am posting this so you guys don't have to go out and buy another copy of 'Angel' just to read the teaser! (:**

MAX

I don't know whether you've been on a motorcycle or not, but I must say this: if I didn't have wings, and if motorcycles weren't – essentially – extremely cool death traps, I would want to ride on one all the time. It's about the closest thing to flying there is. The wind whipping through your hair, the sense of freedom, the bugs slamming into your face – it's flying, but on the ground, burning gasoline and making a lot of noise. What's not to love?

We didn't go straight home. I put my arms around Dylan's waist, leaned my head against his back, and closed my eyes. He felt warm and solid. _For once_ I didn't have to do anything, just sit there. It was almost scary. I wasn't totally in control of this situation. I felt the motorcycle slow, and then it came to a rolling stop. Reluctantly, I opened my eyes.

"Where are we?" I asked.

Dylan climbed off the motorcycle and held it while I got off. He waved his hand at the view. We were on the coastal highway, with rocky cliffs on one side and the Oregon coast in front of us. The ocean looked gray-blue and choppy, and the air had gotten about fifteen degrees cooler. Seagulls wheeled above the waves, cawing and I wanted to join them.

I moved to the railing, ready to jump off.

"Wait, Max." Dylan's dazzling smile was nowhere in sight. His face was solemn, his eyes a darker shade of teal. "I found this place the other day, when I was out flying," he said. "I feel closer to the clouds here, more than anywhere else. I wanted to share it with you because… I feel closer to – Angel here, too."

My eyes flew to his face, my mouth partly open in shock. _Angel_. The youngest member of our flock. My littlest bird. I was assaulted with memories: Angel smiling sweetly at Total, her pale blond curls making a halo of fluff around her head. The depth in Angel's eyes when we witnessed disaster, way more knowing than any seven-year-old's should be. The way she'd get into my head, under my skin, inside my heart, always. And then – Angel disappearing in a cloud of smoke. I grimaced, thinking of Paris and the explosion.

"We do not talk about that," I reminded him tightly.

He gave a sad smile and gestured out at the vast ocean, the craggy cliffs in the back of us. No one was around – it was me and Dylan, water and rock and sky. And my bleeding, ripped-open heart.

"You can't pretend she was never born," he said as my eyes narrowed and I pulled out my trusty standby, rage.

I opened my mouth to snap at him, but he went on gently. "You can't pretend she never died."

I actually gasped, drawing away from him in shock, feeling a sharp pain in my chest as if he'd plunged a dagger into me. _It'll be okay, _Angel had said the last time I saw her. _I'll be with you always._ But it wasn't okay. She wasn't with us. She never would be again.

"Shut up!" I croaked.

Dylan put his hand on my shoulder, holding me as I tried to spin away. He pulled me to him firmly, cradling me against his hard chest, one hand on the back of my neck, one hand on my back. "We all miss her, Max," he whispered against my hair. "We'll always miss her."

And that was it. A horrible keening sounds filled my ears and it took me several seconds to realize it was coming from me. Then I was clutching Dylan's shirt, pressing my face against him, sobbing uncontrollably. He held me tightly, his cheek against my hair, stroking my back and whispering, "I know. I know. Let it out, Max. There's no one here but me and you. Just let it all out."

I almost never cry. I keep all of my emotions on a supertight leash. Normally, they don't just burst out of me like this, but now that they had, I had sobbed and sobbed, my throat raw, feeling Dylan's shirt get wet beneath my tears.

My baby was gone. After everything we had been through, after love and betrayal and fury and love and forgiveness, she was gone. Forever. She'd sacrificed herself to save thousands, and she would never, ever be back.

And I hadn't let myself believe that, until now.

**Alright, chapter one is up! There is only two more chapters left. One of them has a big ass shocker. **


	2. Chapter 2

Max

I drew in shuddering breaths, my sobs subsiding. I had needed to grieve over Angel, and I finally had. By wailing my guts out. In a really loud, out-of-control, sloppy, wet way. All over Dylan.

I pulled away from him awkwardly. I was thirsty and empty and hollow-feeling, and imagining the humiliation that could result from the revolting scene I'd just made was vomit-inducing. "Remember that time you bawled like a baby?" Dylan would say, for year to come. "That was hysterical!" I just wanted to collapse on my bed with the covers over my head. Forever.

But Dylan was still looking at my puffy face. "Remember how Angel saved that little kid from the hotel fire?" he asked, eyes shining.

I did. I could still picture her smile shining victoriously on her dirty face, the boy clutched in her arms, her wings gray with smoke. Angel, rising from the ashes.

I wiped my nose. "I'm done talking about her."

Dylan nodded. He was silent for a moment, looking out over the ocean. His hair appeared dusty in the afternoon sun. "I don't know what to do with the sadness," he said finally, sighing. I looked up at him, surprised at his directness.

"Why do you keep talking about it, then?" I was too worn out to even get angry.

"I don't know what else to do." He shrugged. "I have all these hard feeling inside, and I thought talking about them might help. And… I don't want to forget Angel. I'm scared if we don't talk about her, it will be like she never existed."

I nodded warily. I had my own hard feelings that I didn't know what to do with. They sat like a pile of rocks in my stomach. Building and building.

"You're the strongest person I know, Max," said Dylan.

"Yeah…" I picked at my nails, recalling my recent meltdown. I was never very good at receiving compliments, especially ones that seems heartfelt.

"Seriously. I'm learning how to be strong just from watching you." Dylan put his hands on my shoulders. "But I know not everyone can be strong all the time. I just wanted to tell you – if you ever need to not be strong… you can lean on me. I can be strong for both of us – for a while, at least." He gave a slight grin.

Dylan looked into my eyes with such naked trust that I had to look away. Below, the waves smashed into the rocks, spraying a cool mist over everything, and I felt goose bumps rise on my arms.

Fang had always had my back – that is, until he hadn't anymore. He didn't have to say it aloud; id known it anyway. Dylan was so different – it was like he didn't know how to be guarded. His emotions were raw, on the surface for everyone to see, and the sarcastic wall that had protected me so efficiently in the past was slowly crumbling before his honesty.

I felt so vulnerable, exposed, so out of my element. I shifted uncomfortably.

"Can we fly now?" I asked, my throat dry.

Dylan smiled, his face lighting up, eyes crinkling at the corners. He stuck the motorcycle's keys under its seat and took my hand, and we climbed up on the guardrail.

I took a deep breath, and together we jumped off.

**Sorry, woah, there's three more chapters **


	3. Chapter 3

Max

Thick, heavy clouds had rolled in, blocking the sun, and right now it felt like Dylan and I were the only two people on earth. Our wings took us high over the water, up and up until cars on the highway looked like shiny beetles, bustling to and fro.

We wheeled freely through the air, no destination in mind, copying the gulls, seeing dark schools of fish in the water below. My chest expanded again, after being all crumpled up from crying. I felt my heart beating hard, felt the cool mist against my skin, and I felt fresh and alive and somehow lighter. Like I'd dropped some of those hard, heavy rocks I'd been carrying around.

Dylan was good for me, in some ways. I had to admit it.

"What?" he asked, raising his voice over the wind.

"What what?"

"You were sort of smiling."

I shook my head. "I don't know why."

"You know, Max," he said after a few more minutes. We'd slowly turned in a huge circle and begun to head toward home.

I looked at him, eyebrows raised.

"You know I love you."

I almost dropped right out of the sky. I literally forgot to flap for a couple seconds and plummeted about fifteen feet before my wings started working on their own.

"I know you were programmed to love me," I said cautiously, rising back in sync with Dylan.

"Maybe I was," he said. "I don't know. I just know I do. And I know that love has to go both ways, you might not love me now, but I hope you will in time. I can wait. I'm not going anywhere."

I said nothing, and we flew together wordlessly, higher and higher, as if we could touch the sky.

**Ok, now two more chapters! **


	4. Chapter 4

Fang

Fang was back in his comfort zone – that is, beating the living pus out of freaking Erasers, as usual.

_I have to get back there,_ Fang thought, trying to see through the wall of hulking bodies. Maya was hard-core, but Fang had known Ari to be a vicious fighter, and this version would likely be tougher.

After he finished off another Eraser, blood from the guy's nose spattering his black feathers, Fang pushed off the dusty ground hard and did an up-and-away. He hovered about fifty feet up, searching the scene.

There, near the demolished van, landing blow after blow, was Maya, holding her own. Ari was no longer smiling. He was clearly sweating with the effort and his face was furious. And surprised. Fang almost smiled. Maya was fearless and graceful and merciless. She was beautiful to watch.

He scanned the road and spotted Holden backed into a corner with an Eraser. Fang frowned. The kid's technique was all off, and he looked terrified and in way over his head. The Eraser advanced on his, murder in his feral eyes.

When the Eraser tore into Holden's arm and raised his claw for the final blow, Fang dove.

The dive was short and lightning-quick – the half-dazed Eraser never saw it coming.

Without hesitation, two more Erasers charged toward Fang, and everything was a blur of color and instincts.

He kicked and dodged on autopilot, feeling hollow, anger driving him as he beat the freak out of them. With a last surge of adrenaline, he crushed the windpipe of the final Eraser, and then it was over.

Everything was eerily quiet without the sounds of battle.

"Starfish," Fang called to Holden. "You all right?"

"Yeah," the kid said, wincing as the cells in his arm multiplied, the deep gash closing before their eyes.

Fang nodded. His side felt bruised, he might have a cracked wing bone, his arms ached, and a gash on his forehead dripped blood into his eyes. It had felt so satisfying, sweating though his fury. _Hurting _someone.

He looked around. Where was she? Where was Maya?

_And Ari?_

"Fang!" Holden grabbed his sleeve. "Up there!" he pointed at the sky.

Fang looked up and felt his heart stop.

Maya and Ari. Five hundred feet up.

Battling to the death.

**Dun dun duhhh- Ari's back ahaha! Maya and Dylan can just go die now…**


	5. Chapter 5

Fang

They heard her scream pierce the air even from the ground, saw the bright arc of blood splash across the sky. And then she was falling.

Fang felt dazed as he watched her floating down, a long sigh stretching out between them, arms and legs reaching lazily upward, feather-light, body pulling down.

_Go!_ Fang's instincts shrieked at him, but time had stopped. He was frozen to the spot, and so was she.

Suspended. A picture snapped, a painting hung against the endless wall of sky. _Still life of a tragedy, _Fang thought. He felt a bright wave of distress, his heart thundering out of his chest, but he couldn't connect the feeling to the image in front of him.

Her wings silhouetted against the brilliant flame of sunlight. Fang knew the exact color of those wings, their span, their texture against his cheek. Hawk's wings, to match her sharp instincts, her hard looks.

She looked soft now – softer than the air and the clouds around her. Tender. Cradled in blue.

Fang was holding his breath.

He could see her face now, her mouth open in a perfect O, caught in mid-sentence, drawing in.

To tell him everything that had never been said. That she'd still be there for him, as she always had been. That he shouldn't have left her and the flock.

That she still loved him.

Fang felt his will weeping out of him, crushed beneath the weight of this knowledge. The fall would kill them both.

He blinked and she was moving again, her arms marionetted in unlikely poses, twisting. A delicate dance, a swaying to music he could not hear.

Down…and down.

Her features came sharply into focus, and Fang saw the fear there, her mouth protesting in a silent scream, the ragged ripple of wing tearing behind her, ruined.

The blood in her hair, cut short.

So it wouldn't get tangled in the wind.

The sound caught up to Fang's ears, the shriek vibrating louder and louder, closer and closer as the ground rushed upward and all the light fell away from her and she was plummeting, dark and heavy as stone.

**Alright, that was the last chapter from the teaser. 'Nevermore' comes out on August 6****th**** 2012! I can't wait (:**


End file.
